Honored Military Alumni

Brent Howell
Class of 1989
Air Force, 19 Years
Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Brent M. Howell, was awarded the Bronze Star April 7 during a ceremony at Altus Air Force Base.
Special Agent Howell, OSI Detachment 422, Altus AFB, deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan for seven months. While traveling down a narrow single lane mountain road on a night intelligence collection mission, his convoy was ambushed and hit with rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. One RPG hit his HUMVEE vehicle, blowing his seat loose from its frame and wounding him with shrapnel. During the following fire fight and despite being wounded, he identified the attackers positions,, directed return suppressive fire and set up a security perimeter until the vehicle could be repaired enough to travel and allow the convoy to continue. SA Howell received the Purple Heart for his wounds and was able to later return to his unit and finish his deployment. Moreover, he returned to the ambush location and helped process the scene, which later resulted in some of the attackers being identified and captured.
In another operation, the largest of its kind conducted in Afghanistan, SA Howell collected informant information and transformed it into intelligence for Special Forces units who neutralized more than 90 Taliban fighters, three suicide-bomber training areas and disrupted insurgent activities in three Afghan provinces. He also directed seven missions which uncovered weapons caches near Bagram, seizing more than 14 tons of weapons and munitions

Kristian Thompson
Class of 1980
Air Force, 20+ Years
Kristian joined the the United States Air Force in 1980 and served just over 20 years. As a C-130 crew chief Kristian was stationed at Little Rock AFB, AR from 1980-1982. From there he was sent to the Philippines, serving there until 1984 and from there he finished out his military career at Kirtland AFB, NM in Albuquerque. There he met Debbie Luna, married and settled down. They have two children.
During his time in the military he has traveled to numerous destinations within the US and the world including Germany, South Korea, Okinawa, and Crete.
Kristian Also served on the USAF Honor Guard.

School News

Our Keokuk High School military alumni are some of the most outstanding people we know and this page recognizes them and everything they have done! Not everyone gets to come home for the holidays and we want our Keokuk High School Military to know that they are loved and appreciated. All of us in Keokuk are proud of our military alumni and want to thank them for risking their lives to protect our country!